Lesson 12: “God Is Faithful”
COLLEEN TINKER | Editor, Proclamation! Magazine |
Adventism has no idea what God’s faithfulness really is because it denies His absolute sovereignty. When you think of the words, “God Is Faithful”, what does that mean to you? Does it mean that He keeps His promises by blessing the obedient? Does it mean that God adapts His plans when people sin? Does God’s faithfulness mean that He honors free will by limiting His sovereignty so we can choose to have a “personal relationship” with Him? Or does God’s faithfulness mean that all God’s work is His Plan A because His glory, not we, is the ultimate value in the universe? How can we KNOW what God’s faithfulness really is—and why does it even matter?
How Many Covenants Did God Make?
This week we find the underlying framework that invisibly shapes the week’s discussion about God’s faithfulness. The seven days-worth of studies attempt to remind the reader that God is faithful, but the arguments lack cohesion or clarity because they also insist that this divine faithfulness honors human free will. The author says we must love God—and yet “love” can’t be forced. He says in Thursday’s lesson that obedience to God
“…should spring from a personal relationship with Him…based on what He has done for them in His great mercy and love.
The command to love God also expresses the mutual, but not symmetrical, nature of divine love. God desires to enter into an intimate, personal relationship with every person who reciprocates His love. Thus, His universal love to all constitutes the framework for the manifestation of our voluntary, mutual love.”
After reading this quote, I have one response: What does that even mean? How on earth does God’s supposed “universal love to all” give me a framework for manifesting voluntary love to Him?
It sounds like metaphorical mumbo-jumbo. This passage doesn’t help at all in figuring out how to have a relationship with God!
Significantly, the reality of the true gospel—the ONLY way to realize a true reconciliation and relationship with God—is never explained.
The Teachers Comments, however, reveal the “back story”. Adventism’s worldview is built on Ellen White’s borrowing the theological structure of “covenant theology” while removing God’s sovereign justice, intervention, and sacrificial love from the biblical accounts.
In order to look at the subtle twisting that leaves Adventism with false beliefs about man, about God, about sin, and about salvation, we will look at each “covenant” the author addresses in his comments and contrast them with what Scripture says about them.
Did God Make a Covenant with Adam?
On page 158 the author assumes that God made a covenant with Adam. This idea is not original with Adventism; an Adamic covenant is part of the framework of what is known as “covenant theology”. In fact, the Bible never says that God made a covenant with Adam. Yes, He did give Adam and Eve dominion over the earth along with the command to be fruitful, multiply, and to fill the earth and subdue it (Genesis 1:28). God gave Adam one caveat: do not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. If Adam were to eat of that tree, he would die the very day he ate of it (Genesis 2:16, 17).
Yet the Bible never calls this arrangement between Him and His created man a covenant. Even though there were distinct promises and commands, and God’s word cannot fail, we can’t legitimately call this arrangement a covenant. It is always safest to use what the Bible calls “covenants” instead of assigning covenant status to any arrangement which is not called a covenant. Yet here is what the lesson says:
The fundamental promise of the Adamic covenant involved numerous off-spring and dominion over the earth (Gen. 1:28). Human beings, as bearers of the image of God, were meant to thrive as co-rulers of God by reproducing life and governing over creation. However, this divine blessing is disrupted by human disobedience,…Nevertheless, despite human failure, God remained committed to His plan and promised that the seed of the woman would destroy the serpent and restore the lost dominion (Gen. 3:15). The tragic chapter of Genesis 3 closed with Adam’s naming Eve (in Hebrew, “life”), who would become the mother of all life (Gen. 3:20), clearly indicating that death would not have the final word.
God did not “remain committed to His plan” in spite of human failure. God was not surprised by Adam’s sin, and He didn’t have to alter the way He accomplished His “plan”. There was no covenant with Adam—there is only the account of God’s commands to him and of His caveat that to eat of that one tree would mean death.
Genesis is the foundation for our understanding of reality—and what Adventism does not explain is that the story of Adam’s sin explains that every one of us in born dead in sin. That is the foundational reality that shapes all of what Scripture reveals about God’s eternal plan of salvation. Adam didn’t break a covenant; he disobeyed by disbelieving God’s word. God wasn’t left floundering to devise a different way to get His plan accomplished. Rather God revealed who we are and why He had to provide a new head of the human race. The account of Adam’s sin was not about God’s being thrown off-balance but remaining committed. That story is God’s revelation to us of who we really are—and of who He is.
What about Noah?
The Sabbath School lesson moves to the Noah Covenant without ever actually addressing what its terms are. The author says this:
By Genesis 6, sin had led humanity almost to the point of no return. In the moral realm, there was a process of de-creation, reverting the good creation to a state of only evil all the time (Gen. 6:5). So, it comes as no surprise that de-creation takes place in the natural world, as well, bringing the earth to the initial state of watery silence. The silence was broken only by Noah and his family on the ark. After the Flood, God renewed the Adamic covenant with Noah…However, Noah also failed. Echoing the Fall, Noah took the fruit of the vine, drank, and exposed himself, becoming naked, as Adam and Eve had before him. As a result of his action, a curse, which defined the future of his offspring, was pronounced. But still, God remained committed to His plan.
God’s covenant after the flood is articulated in Genesis 9. The author never deals with God’s UNILATERAL promise never to destroy the earth or its creatures with a flood again. Rather the author goes to the man Noah—and his post-flood failure was not related to God’s covenant promise made to him and to “all flesh” and “the earth”. Furthermore, the story of Noah and his offspring is not primarily about “a curse”. It tells us of the three people groups that came from Noah: the Semites (Shem), the Hamites (Canaanites), and the Japhethites (Gentiles). Those prophecies and promises had nothing at all to do with God’s unilateral covenant to preserve the earth!
In fact, the lesson’s author completely eliminates the actual contents of the Noahic covenant and fails to mention it is unconditional because God made it unilaterally. Instead, the author focusses on human failure and reassures the reader that in spite of Noah’s sin, God “remained committed to His plan”.
The Noah covenant had nothing to do with God’s continuing a plan in the face of a human problem! Furthermore, the quote above reveals Adventism’s commitment to insisting that destruction is the consequence of sin itself. It explains the flood by saying “de-creation takes place in the natural world” because sin was de-creating the world. No! God sent the flood to destroy the evil that had polluted the creation! Sin didn’t bring about the flood; God destroyed the earth. That fact is the reason God made an UNCONDITIONAL covenant promising never to destroy the world with water again! Yet because Adventism doesn’t give God the credit for His own wrath and justice, it can’t see the truth about the Noahic covenant. Instead, Adventism blames Noah and credits God with finding a way to accomplish His plans anyway. They insist on presenting the Noahic covenant as just one more step in a single covenant that God has been keeping in spite of us humans.
Yet the Bible NEVER tells us that God has ONE COVENANT with man. That is a human idea that has no basis in Scripture. Importantly, the Noahic Covenant was not an agreement with Noah. It was a unilateral covenant that God made, and Noah’s behavior had nothing at all to do with God’s keeping His covenant with the earth and with all flesh.
What was the Abrahamic Covenant?
Next the lesson’s author discusses the Abrahamic Covenant. He prefaces God’s covenant in Genesis 15 by recounting the debacle of the Tower of Babel, “which became a monument to confusion.” The author continues on page 159:
Casting doubt on God’s faithfulness to His promises, they epitomized legalism by seeking to save themselves without Him. From a canonical perspective, the appearance of Abraham at this point was not coincidental. Abraham’s call showed that not everything was lost. There was still faithfulness on this earth. The same elements of original blessing were found in the Abrahamic covenant: numerous descendants and dominion (Gen 12:1–3). This covenant marked a fresh start for creation. Indeed, the parallels between the Abrahamic and Noahic covenants were remarkable and indicated that they were different phases of the same covenant. However, like Adam, Abraham failed by heeding Sarah’s advice to take Hagar as a wife… His offspring followed his faithful example but were also below the mark. In fact, the loyal lineage became a mess between Isaac and Jacob. Still, God could use them to be a blessing to the nations (see Joseph’s story in which life was preserved and the Abrahamic seed held dominion), but they ended up stuck in Egypt, later to become enslaved.
Again, the author never explains the Abrahamic Covenant. In Genesis 15 God unilaterally promised to grant Abraham seed, land, and blessing. He put Abraham into a deep sleep and passed among the sacrificial animals HIMSELF. Abraham did not participate. This covenant is UNCONDITIONAL because Abraham did not participate. It is also eternal. God promised to give Abraham’s descendants the land to which He had called Abraham. He further told Abraham his descendants would come from Sarah, and they would be enslaved for 400 years before He would bring them out of slavery to the land He promised.
This covenant did not depend on Abraham’s obedience. I stated God’s eternal covenant to make a nation of Abraham’s descendants and give them the land. He also promised that all the earth would be blessed through Abraham.
Moreover, the reference to Babel in the above quote misses the point. The people of Babel weren’t trying to save themselves. The refused to fill the earth and subdue it; instead they congregated on the Plain of Shinar and built a tower to “make for ourselves a name, lest we be scattered over the face of the whole earth” (Genesis 11:4). Their confounded languages were God’s judgment on their refusal to scatter and fill the earth. He caused them to do what they had refused to do: scatter and form nations.
His call of Abraham was not because Abraham was faithful. He was a moon worshiper in Ur (Joshua 24:2). Yet when God called him, he believed God. The Abrahamic covenant did not involve anyone’s obedience or disobedience. It’s terms are absolute despite human behavior. God’s covenant was never insecure because of a man’s behavior. It did not include any promise from Abraham or any other man. The Abrahamic Covenant is still being fulfilled. God is still keeping and fulfilling those covenant promises to Abraham’s descendants.
God Adapted?
Next the lesson’s author addresses the Mosaic Covenant. The Bible reveals this covenant is different from the others; it was NOT UNCONDITIONAL. Rather, it was a two-way covenant with the nation of Israel. God promised to bless them if they obeyed his covenant terms, and they promised that they would do everything God said. Yet no man can perfectly obey or keep his promises. This covenant is not eternal, and it had a beginning and an end. The lesson says this on pages 160 and 161:
God brought His people out of Egypt in order to renew the covenant with them on Mount Sinai. And again, humanity fell short of the divine expectation. Moses was still on the top of the mountain when the people started to worship the golden calf, attributing to it their deliverance from slavery (Exod. 32:4). Just a few weeks later, the Israelites were once again in rebellion, refusing to enter Canaan because of their unbelief (Num 14:11). But God was still committed to His plan. It is true that in each covenant new human players appeared, and God adapted to the new circumstances. But His faithfulness remained unaltered.
First, the covenant at Sinai was not a RENEWED covenant. God did not reframe His covenant with Noah nor with Abraham. Those are unilateral, eternal covenants unconditionally being kept because God is the only party in those covenants. Humans are recipients, not participants. The covenant with Israel is different. God made a completely original covenant with them: the Ten Commandments were the very words of this Mosaic covenant (Exodus 34:27, 28), and this covenant promised God’s blessings if Israel obeyed and God’s curses if they disobeyed. This covenant outlined their constitution as a nation under God, and it defined the worship He demanded: sacrifices for sin and a priesthood to mediate God’s redemption and atonement.
This covenant included a sign: the seventh-day Sabbath, when the nation would stay in their tents every seventh day as God protected and worked for them. They were to remember that He is the only One who accomplishes truth and reality and creation. He made them, and as a nation, they were to remember His finished work and His rescue of them from slavery. The Sabbath for them was a sign that they were believing and trusting Him. It was not a test of obedience. Rather it was the sign of the covenant God made with them.
God’s unconditional covenants did not depend in any way upon the “human players”. God in no was was adapting to the new circumstances of new human players! The Mosaic Covenant was not a continuation nor a restatement of the previous covenants. Rather, this covenant existed under the ongoing terms of the Noahic and Abrahamic covenants that God was always fulfilling. The Mosaic covenant was just for the nation of Israel. It was never an adaptation, and never were its terms added to the terms of the Noahic and Abrahamic covenants. It was uniquely for the nation of Israel. The Mosaic Covenant defined God’s nation—and it alone was a CONDITIONAL covenant. God’s promises in this covenant depended upon Israel’s obedience, and it had a beginning—430 years after Abraham—until the Seed would come (Galatians 3:17–19).
Davidic Covenant
The author ends with the Davidic Covenant—interestingly, he only mentions the new covenant at the end of his discussion of the Davidic. Once again he asserts that God again adapted His plan and granted a king. He emphasizes that each covenant was essentially endangered by the failure of the men involved at the time of the covenants’ inaugurations—yet the Bible paints a different picture. God’s covenants were solely at His discretion and according to His sovereign will. They were not initiated because the people failed and necessitated God’s adapting His plan and making a new expression of His covenant.
No! Each covenant was a revelation of God’s eternal promises—and the Mosaic Covenant was His gift of a national covenant which governed civil and spiritual life in God’s own nation in which He placed His presence. Yet the lesson says this about the Davidic Covenant:
However, David and his descendants also failed miserably…Nevertheless, God still stuck to His plan and did not give up on His people.This sequence of covenants shows a pattern of blessing, sin, and grace. It demonstrates that God’s faithfulness and loyal love (ḥesed) remained constant over the ages. Jesus inaugurated the new covenant, which, based on His merits, would not fail as did the previous ones.
Once again, the author does not explain the Davidic covenant. God promised David an eternal throne, dynasty, and kingdom. This UNCONDITIONAL covenant did not depend upon David’s or his heirs’ obedience. While individuals would fail, God would never stop keeping His covenant promise of an eternal throne and king from the line of David.
The biblical covenants were not responses to man’s failures as God adapted His plan. Each of these covenants is God’s eternal intention, revealed and covenanted by Him at exactly the time He decreed. Human failures do not necessitate adaptation; rather all of these covenants except the Mosaic Covenant are eternal, unconditional, and unilateral. God is still fulfilling them.
Significantly, the lesson barely mentioned the new covenant—the covenant that is based on Jesus’ shed blood alone! God brings His people into the new covenant when they believe in the Savior He sent: God the Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, who became sin for us and broke our curse of death by rising on the third day after dying and shedding His blood to atone for human sin.
Jesus initiated the new covenant at the Last Supper when He said to His disciples:
In the same way [He took] the cup also after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, as often as you drink [it], in remembrance of Me.”—1 Corinthians 11:25 LSB
The new covenant is UNCONDITIONAL. When we believe in the Lord Jesus, we pass from death to life. His blood cleanses us from sin, and we receive His resurrection life, restoring us to spiritual life.
There is not only one covenant: there are five biblical covenants, and only one is conditional. Only the Mosaic covenant demanded obedience in order for the covenant to be realized. Yet the Noahic, Abrahamic, Davidic, and New Covenants are UNCONDITIONAL and eternal. God alone is the active party in these covenants. He is still fulfilling them according to His sovereign will. These covenants do not depend upon human promises or obedience.
We are not asked to keep “the covenant”. We are not asked to keep the law of the Mosaic Covenant. Rather, we are asked to BELIEVE in the Lord Jesus, entrusting our sin and ourselves to Him and to His shed blood for us. Jesus keeps the new covenant on our behalf. When we believe, we are placed in Christ, and all the benefits of the new covenant become ours because we are IN HIM.
God is still fulfilling His covenant promises to Abraham and Noah and David. He is still fulfilling His promises to Israel and to all those who trust Jesus!
For more details about the biblical covenants, listen to our Covenants playlist for the Former Adventist Podcast:
Also, check out our Former Adventist Fact Check podcast number 25 entitled “Sabbath: Jesus or Day?” We’ll put the links in the pinned comment below.
The Sabbath School lesson reinterprets the Bible in order to protect its own worldview. It sounds academic and “smart” as it creates connections and makes comparisons in a typological, allegorical way. Yet this way of reading Scripture suppressed the gospel. The Bible is a book given to us by the living, creative Word, the Logos of creation—God Himself. We read the Bible using the normal rules of grammar, context, and vocabulary. The words mean what the words say.
If you have not trusted God’s word, if you have not seen your own need of a Savior, I urge you to look to Jesus today. Read the book of Galatians, and ask God to teach you what He already knows He wants you to know. Trust His word, and entrust yourself and your sin to Jesus. When you do, you will be born again. His death for your sin, His burial, and His resurrection on the third day have completed every detail needed for your salvation. Believe Him today. You will pass from death to life! †
This weekly feature is dedicated to Adventists who are looking for biblical insights into the topics discussed in the Sabbath School lesson quarterly. We post articles which address each lesson as presented in the Sabbath School Bible Study Guide, including biblical commentary on them. We hope you find this material helpful and that you will come to know Jesus and His revelation of Himself in His word in profound biblical ways.
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